Grim Dawn: Tips & Tricks You Need to Survive

by Fernando Diaz / Articles, Misc. Guides / 06 Mar 2022

Hey there, fellow Grim Dawn players! Looking to up your game and become a true survivor in this dark and treacherous world? Well, you’re in luck ’cause we’ve gathered some essential tips and tricks to help you through even the toughest of battles. From character building and progression, to strategy and tactics, we’ve got you covered. So let’s dive right in and get you started on your journey to becoming a true master of Grim Dawn!

Use components to enhance your gear from the beginning

As you progress through Grim Dawn, you will find components that can be used to enhance your weapons and armor. It is best to use these components as soon as you acquire them, even if the items they are equipped on will be replaced by better ones soon. Components can provide various benefits such as increased health, constitution, finesse, attack, defense/armor, and passive skills. Just ensure that the component enhances a damage type that your class or abilities utilize as well. It is better to have a poor component than none at all.

Use the right mouse button for abilities that involve charging towards enemies

Some abilities, such as Shadow Strike for Nightblade and Lightning for Soldier, involve your character charging towards enemies. These abilities can be more convenient to use if you assign them to the right mouse button rather than a keyboard key.

Don’t be afraid to respec your character’s points if you want to try something new or made a mistake

In Grim Dawn, you have the option to respec your character’s points in all categories if you want to try out a different build or made a mistake along the way. However, you cannot change your secondary class, so be sure to choose carefully.

Adjust the Full Screen Gamma setting to improve visibility in darker areas

If you find the graphics in Grim Dawn to be too dark, you can increase the value for Full Screen Gamma in the Options menu under Video. This will help to improve visibility in darker areas of the game, but keep in mind that this setting only works in full-screen mode.

Pay attention to your surroundings and boss behaviors during fights

In Grim Dawn, it’s important to be aware of your surroundings and the behaviors of bosses and other strong enemies. Pay attention to things like puddles that can cause damage, crystals that need to be destroyed, and the movements of bosses. If an enemy is too powerful, don’t be afraid to run away or circle around an object to attack from a different angle.

Explore and uncover the map to find secrets and treasures

Grim Dawn is full of secrets and treasures that can be found by exploring the world and clicking on everything you see. You may find treasure hidden in tree stumps, under rocks, or in secret rooms hidden behind destructible walls. It pays to be thorough and explore every nook and cranny of the game world, as you never know what you might find.

Earn and spend devotion points

Earning devotion points in Grim Dawn is an important aspect of character building and progression. There are several ways to earn these points:

One way to earn devotion points is by finding and restoring various shrines scattered throughout the game world. Ruined shrines can be repaired using rare materials or components, while corrupted shrines can be purified by activating the shrine and defeating the monsters that corrupt it. Restoring a shrine grants a single devotion point, with a total of 50 devotion points available across three difficulty levels (55 with the Ashes of Malmouth expansion).

Devotion points can also be purchased in The Crucible by using tributes. The amount of tributes required to purchase devotion points increases as you obtain more points.

Once you have earned devotion points, you can spend them within the devotion window, which is accessed through the skill window. In the devotion window, you can unlock stars in a constellation, which provides passive bonuses such as attributes, damage, resistances, and more. Completing a constellation grants an affinity bonus, which can then be used to unlock higher-level constellations.

Use the loot filter to prioritize certain types of items

The loot filter on the left side of your action bar can be used to deactivate certain types of items, such as common (grey) items early in the game and magic (white) items later on. It’s recommended to keep Unique and Double Rare items activated, and you can deactivate Rare (green) items once you start finding more blue items.

Misc. Tips & Tricks

It is important to craft and use antivenom salves and silk swatches in Grim Dawn to protect yourself against poison and bleeding effects. Additionally, crafting and using +chaos and +aether resistance components can help you withstand attacks of those damage types. When using corpse dust on your jewelry, consider whether you need the energy regen provided by ectoplasm or if you can afford to make aether souls for aether resistance.

When building a character in Grim Dawn, it is important to do the math and choose your gear carefully. Flat bonuses to damage and debuffs to enemies are generally more effective early on than percentage bonuses. When choosing skills, be aware of one point wonders and the diminishing returns of certain skills. It is also important to avoid spreading your skill points too thin and to wait before investing in a second class.

When choosing a second class for your character, consider the Shaman, Occultist, or Necromancer. The Shaman is a strong choice, especially if you prefer two-handed weapons. The Witchblade is also a fun choice. The Death Knight is also a strong option. You can use the GrimTools calculator (https://www.grimtools.com/calc/) to create and plan your own builds, and remember to prioritize using aether crystals over iron bits when spending devotion points.

In Grim Dawn, resistances are very important, especially physical resistance. Elemental resistance of 20 will give you 20 resistance to fire, cold, and lightning damage. On the other hand, 30 elemental damage will give you 10 fire, cold, and lightning damage on an attack. When choosing your class and building your character, try to focus on one or two damage types, though up to three is possible for more advanced builds.

Some mods can greatly enhance the overall gaming experience. Two highly recommended mods for Grim Dawn are Grim Internals and Rainbow. While these mods can be very useful, it is important to use them sparingly. For instance, the Grim Internals mod allows you to increase the speed of the game, which can be very useful for completing maps or retracing long routes. However, if you use the faster settings for too long, the base game may feel slow in comparison. To avoid this, try using the faster settings only for specific tasks and then switch back to a slower speed (1-1.2x) when exploring new areas. This will help you avoid the feeling of rushing through the game to the point where there is nothing left to do.

Fernando Diaz

Fernando is doing what he always did, sharing his honest opinions about games whenever he can. The difference is now he is writing and not talking about it.
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